Hyndluljod, or “The Song of Hyndla,” is an Eddic poem about the giant Hyndla, the goddess Freyja, and a man called Ottar the Foolish. Hyndla is known for her great knowledge of the world and its history. Freyja wants Ottar to become less foolish and thinks maybe he can learn a thing or two from the giant. She wants to travel quickly, so she turns Ottar into a boar and rides him all the way to the giant’s cave and there’s no record of Ottar complaining about this treatment.

Hyndla doesn’t seem pleased to see Freyja but she does give Ottar the requested history lesson. It’s unclear why she agrees. Perhaps she just can’t resist showing off. The lore she recalls is rattled off quickly and is sometimes difficult to follow: Ottar’s father is Innstein, his grandfather was Alf, Ulf his great grandfather, Saefari his great great grandfather, and his great great great grandfather was called Svan. And so on, describing his mother’s side of the family too and some of the great deeds these people performed.

Despite the grand subject matter, the giant’s lecture is dry and Freyja seems to know that poor foolish Ottar isn’t going to remember any of this and so she asks Hyndla for some “memory-ale,” which is apparently a kind of drink that helps a listener remember the lore they’ve just heard from a storyteller. But Hyndla refuses them any, thoroughly fed up of her guests by now, and calls down curses on them. I’m left wondering what use this lesson can have been for poor Ottar who, since he was in the form of a boar the whole time, wouldn’t have been able to take notes.

(I’ve been reading The Poetic Edda translated by Carolyne Larrington and Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs by John Lindow.)